More than 200,000 children are hurt each year in the United States while playing with toys, suffering injuries serious enough to require treatment in hospital emergency rooms. In one case, for example, Mattel, the world's largest toy maker, recalled nearly 20 million toys because of a variety of problems with Chinese-made products.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced the recalls of many dangerous toys, but hazardous items remain available. In one case successfully litigated by Kline & Specter, a Pennsylvania teenager was shot through the skull by a defective Daisy BB gun, suffering severe brain damage and eventually death. (See the Mahoney Case)
Among the latest toys to come under scrutiny is the popular fidget spinner and, most recently, battery-operated fidget spinners. Incidents of the toys catching fire while being charged have been reported as well as parts being swallowed by small children who placed them in their mouths. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has warned that the plastic and metal toys can break and release small pieces that can be a choking hazard.
If your child has been seriously injured in a toy-related accident, you may want to call a dangerous toy attorney at 800-243-1100 for a free evaluation of your case.
See Tom Kline's Fox-TV interview on unsafe toys.
Click here for information about unsafe Chinese products.
A leading cause of death among young children is choking, mostly on small balls, balloons and tiny toy parts. (One safety group suggests using a toilet paper tube to test for size; objects that fit through the tube are too small for younger children.) Entanglement in certain toys also poses a risk to small children.
In 2007, for instance, the CPSC announced the recall of more than four million Magnetix Magnetic Building Sets after children swallowed small magnets and suffered intestinal injuries. At least one child died and more than two dozen required surgery.
One watchdog group, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), which conducts independent toy surveys in New York state, said in a report that it discovered toys for sale that violated the federal ban on small parts in toys and other products that lacked required warning labels.
It also found latex balloons marketed to children younger than eight years old; PIRG recommends that children that young never be given balloons to play with. Packages of uninflated balloons are supposed to carry age restriction labels but some do not while others are sold loose in bins that do not carry warnings.
Please call us at 800-243-1100 to speak with an attorney about a dangerous toy injury or death. Kline & Specter represents children and families that have been harmed by dangerous toys in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and across the U.S.
Click here to visit the CPSC website to see more dangerous toys and products.